Susan Bane was the ideal student-athlete while at Barton from 1983-87. She graduated summa cum laude, was a two-time NAIA Academic All-American in tennis and was named the college’s Kiwanis Female Athlete of the Year for 1985-86.
Her reputation was for excelling on the courts – and in the classroom.
While in college, she began dating Bulldog basketball player Art Bane, whom she eventually married. They have two children: Archer and Riley Marie.
Bane graduated from Barton with a chemistry degree and was awarded the Faculty Cup as the school’s Most Outstanding Senior after concluding her college career with a sensational 3.98 GPA on a 4.0 scale. She not only had brains and athletic talent, she had beauty, as evidenced by her selection as homecoming queen in 1984. She was part of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a member of the Science Club for four years and part of the Alpha Chi Honor Society her last two years.
After graduation, she earned a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in Kinesiology in 1995 and an M.D. from the same school in 1997. She currently works for Barton as a professor in the Physical Education department.
She was also very decorative at the University of Illinois. She received the Avery Brundage Scholarship for scholar-athletes in 1990 and 1991, was the Outstanding Teaching Assistant from 1989-94, and earned the American College of Sports Medicine Dissertation Grant and the Laura Heulster Award for being the Outstanding Doctoral Student at the University of Illinois’ Department of Kinesiology in 1995.
After an excellent prep career in both basketball and tennis at Currituck County High School, Bane brought her talent to Barton, where she made her presence felt immediately. She was three-time All-Carolinas Conference and All-District 26 for head tennis coaches Barbara Smith (first three years) and Jerry Cooper, compiling a phenomenal 90-21 record in singles and a 79-29 mark in doubles.
She was voted Barton’s MVP in 1986, when she posted a 22-4 singles record. The following season, she went 25-5, was named Honorable Mention All-American and received the Edward E. Cloyd Award given to the four-year letter winner attaining the highest grade point average at Barton. The Bulldogs won the Carolinas Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and NAIA District 26 team titles her senior year.
Despite all her awards, Bane lists her family as her “greatest accomplishment.”
